Page 108 of The Don's Secret Heir

When Giovanni brings Sonny for a visit I gesture to the sleeping Dario.

“Take him home and make him rest,” I tell him.

Giovanni kicks Dario awake.

“Let’s go home, boss.”

“No,” he says, words thick with sleep, hair hanging over his face. Like a little boy.

I roll my eyes but I can’t help smiling.

“You won’t go home?”

“Not until you do. I won’t sleep until you’re in bed next to me.”

My eyes widen but Sonny doesn’t bat an eye, playing with his trains on the side of my bed.

“Alright, then,” I say finally, quietly, feeling more pleased than I have any right to.

It isn’t until we’re on the way home the next morning that I ask Dario what I’ve been wanting to know.

“Your father and my father... they didn’t get along?”

He shakes his head. “No. Some fight over a pocket watch, of all things.”

“A pocket watch?” My ears perk up as I look over at him.

He chuckles low in his throat. “My father gave me this old silver pocket watch. I was wearing it at an event your father was at. He was drunk and accused me of stealing it. We got in a fight about it. A physical one.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Papa never could hold his liquor.”

Dario barks out a laugh. “He sure couldn’t. Barely got a hit in. Turns out, it was a pocket watch he gave my father when they were young and friends. I guess he was offended that my father gave it to me.”

I laugh along with him, but I’m not sure it’s funny. That small event wouldn’t be enough for Dario to kill him, would it?

Nothing makes sense anymore. I’m married to the man who broke my heart, my father and my best friend are both dead, and he’s my only support.

What’s happened to my life?

Sonny heads off to his room, tired after being at the hospital all week, and Dario holds an arm tight around my waist, escorting me to the master bedroom.

“I guess I’m moving rooms,” I drawl, and Dario glares at me.

“Don’t play with me right now, Li. I’m serious, I won’t sleep unless you’re next to me.”

“Alright, alright, grumpy bear,” I tease, stripping down to my underwear and crawling into bed. I’m exhausted, too. They never let you sleep in the hospital, coming in and out to check your vitals all the time.

He watches with dark eyes as I undress, doing the same. He’s down to just his boxer briefs when he gets into bed, pulling me close before pulling the covers over both of us.

He settles in, my head pulled against his chest, and when we’re skin to skin he seems to finally relax, letting out a long breath through his nostrils.

“There,” he sighs, and soon enough, he’s snoring with his arms locked around me.

I couldn’t go anywhere if I tried. Not that I want to. My eyelids already feel heavy.

But as soon as I close them, I see Beth’s face twisted in a sneer when she tried to kill me.

I wait until Dario is well and truly asleep before getting up and heading downstairs.